My Mom shows you how to make this very impressive and delicious cake HERE. Yum! 
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
April Foolin'!
My camera is broken right now, so I thought I would post some pictures from last year's April Fool's Day dinner.
First - dessert for dinner! "Ice Cream Sundaes" made from popcorn chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a cherry tomato on top.
I really got Logan good on this one! He was so excited to have ice cream for dinner! Then he took a bite, got a confused look on his face and said, "This isn't ice cream! It's smashed potatoes!"
Next - veggies for dessert. This awesome cupcake idea is from the coolest cupcake book ever, Hello Cupcake! The "mixed veggies" are really green Runts candies and cut orange Starburst candies.
The "mashed potatoes" are just vanilla frosting with a yellow Starburst candy "butter" swimming in caramel sauce "gravy." For once, the kids didn't mind eating all their veggies!
First - dessert for dinner! "Ice Cream Sundaes" made from popcorn chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a cherry tomato on top.
I really got Logan good on this one! He was so excited to have ice cream for dinner! Then he took a bite, got a confused look on his face and said, "This isn't ice cream! It's smashed potatoes!"
Next - veggies for dessert. This awesome cupcake idea is from the coolest cupcake book ever, Hello Cupcake! The "mixed veggies" are really green Runts candies and cut orange Starburst candies.
The "mashed potatoes" are just vanilla frosting with a yellow Starburst candy "butter" swimming in caramel sauce "gravy." For once, the kids didn't mind eating all their veggies!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Happy Birthday, BSA!
I know this is a little late, but the Boy Scouts of America celebrated their 100th birthday last month. Andrew and I made a cake together for his Blue and Gold Banquet. I wanted to make a rectangle cake decorated with fondant to look like a Scout shirt with the patches and neckerchief and everything, BUT Bryan said I needed to "tone it down a bit" this time. So this is what we came up with. 
Andrew helped me mix the batter and bake the chocolate cake, then I frosted it with butter cream and piped the royal icing design and Andrew helped me flood the design. Then I added the blue shell border. When we were finished, Andrew asked, "Is there going to be a contest for the best cake? Not that OURS would ever win or anything, I was just wondering." Thanks a lot, Buddy!
It's so funny that I have a son in Scouts! I remember going to Pack Meetings and Blue and Gold Banquets with my brothers....and now it's MY SON up there in the uniform doing the silly skit with his den! Crazy! Andrew is really loving Scouting and is especially proud of his uniform. He's even asked me on more than one occasion if he can wear his Scout shirt to school! He has already completed his Bobcat and is working on his Wolf. It's fun to see him so excited about it!
Andrew helped me mix the batter and bake the chocolate cake, then I frosted it with butter cream and piped the royal icing design and Andrew helped me flood the design. Then I added the blue shell border. When we were finished, Andrew asked, "Is there going to be a contest for the best cake? Not that OURS would ever win or anything, I was just wondering." Thanks a lot, Buddy!
It's so funny that I have a son in Scouts! I remember going to Pack Meetings and Blue and Gold Banquets with my brothers....and now it's MY SON up there in the uniform doing the silly skit with his den! Crazy! Andrew is really loving Scouting and is especially proud of his uniform. He's even asked me on more than one occasion if he can wear his Scout shirt to school! He has already completed his Bobcat and is working on his Wolf. It's fun to see him so excited about it!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Minnie Mouse Birthday Cake
My daughter is a big fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so I decided to make a Minnie Mouse cake for her 2nd birthday. After looking at several cakes on the Internet, I came across this cake by Ban Bakes, and wanted to do something similar.
Notice the sweet little finger pokes on top? They were from the birthday girl, who sneaked up on the table while my back was turned. It was her cake, so I couldn't get too mad at her. ;)
The base is two 10-inch round layers of strawberry cake with butter cream icing, covered in pink fondant with white fondant polka dots. The head is also strawberry cake baked in a little glass mixing bowl on top of a 6-inch round cake and covered in black fondant. The ears and bow were sculpted from gum paste.
Memo to me: Learn how to better color gum paste black! After attempting several methods of dying and painting the ears (unsuccessfully), I ended up spray painting them out of total desperation 30 minutes before the party. I know, it's not edible, how embarrassing! (Don't worry, we didn't serve the top layer of cake!) Gettting the ears to stay in position was also a nightmarish feat of engineering accomplished by my husband, Mom, and Dad. Thanks guys! Next time I'll get longer skewers; little toothpicks didn't do the job very well.
I wanted to pipe, "Happy Birthday, Hannah" in black, but I ran out of time and powdered sugar. I think the birthday girl liked it anyway.
Happy Birthday, Little Lady!
Notice the sweet little finger pokes on top? They were from the birthday girl, who sneaked up on the table while my back was turned. It was her cake, so I couldn't get too mad at her. ;)
The base is two 10-inch round layers of strawberry cake with butter cream icing, covered in pink fondant with white fondant polka dots. The head is also strawberry cake baked in a little glass mixing bowl on top of a 6-inch round cake and covered in black fondant. The ears and bow were sculpted from gum paste.Memo to me: Learn how to better color gum paste black! After attempting several methods of dying and painting the ears (unsuccessfully), I ended up spray painting them out of total desperation 30 minutes before the party. I know, it's not edible, how embarrassing! (Don't worry, we didn't serve the top layer of cake!) Gettting the ears to stay in position was also a nightmarish feat of engineering accomplished by my husband, Mom, and Dad. Thanks guys! Next time I'll get longer skewers; little toothpicks didn't do the job very well.
I wanted to pipe, "Happy Birthday, Hannah" in black, but I ran out of time and powdered sugar. I think the birthday girl liked it anyway.
Happy Birthday, Little Lady!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
CTR Cookies
"Choose The Right" sugar cookies for my son's baptism dinner. Thanks for the cookie cutter, Mom!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Boston Cream Cupcakes
I made these for a birthday lunch for two of my friends. Yummy dense cupcakes filled with pastry cream, dipped in chocolate ganache, and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. This recipe is amazing! Well worth the effort!
Boston Cream Cupcakes From "The Best of America's Test Kitchen, The Year's Best Recipes, Equipment Reviews, and Tastings 2007"
Happy Birthday Linda and Suzan!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Scrubs
Fondant scrub cake for my dear friends who have just completed their residency in anesthesiology. Congrats, Shupes!Thursday, June 11, 2009
Beach Cupcakes
On my way to my son's end-of-year class beach party.
These little cupcakes are so fun and easy to decorate with kids. All you need is frosting and graham cracker crumb sand...
...Fruit By The Foot beach towels...
...Teddy Grahams sunbathers...
(Icing swimsuits optional. ;-) )
These little cupcakes are so fun and easy to decorate with kids. All you need is frosting and graham cracker crumb sand......Fruit By The Foot beach towels...
...Teddy Grahams sunbathers...
(Icing swimsuits optional. ;-) )
...and a mini umbrella on top. (Thanks, Kimberly!)
Happy summer everybody! Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunflower Cupcakes
We hosted a BBQ over the weekend in honor of some good friends who will be leaving us for Texas this week. I wanted to make a cake in the shape of Texas, but Hubby said I shouldn't go overboard, so we went with sunflowers instead. (They have sunflowers in Texas, right? They seemed bright and warm and sunny anyway.) 
I found the idea for these cupcakes in the book, Hello, Cupcake (cutest cupcakes ever!). I used chocolate cake for the dirt, green tinted buttercream for the grass, Oreos for the flower centers, and yellow tinted buttercream for the petals. In the book, they used red M&Ms for the ladybugs, but I didn't have any on hand. I tried to make my own with red candy melts but they turned out all globby, so I searched through my cupboards and luckily found half a box of Runts left over from my April Fool's Cupcakes. I loved the shape of the red Runts and thought they would make perfect ladybugs with some spots from melted chocolate chips.
I found the idea for these cupcakes in the book, Hello, Cupcake (cutest cupcakes ever!). I used chocolate cake for the dirt, green tinted buttercream for the grass, Oreos for the flower centers, and yellow tinted buttercream for the petals. In the book, they used red M&Ms for the ladybugs, but I didn't have any on hand. I tried to make my own with red candy melts but they turned out all globby, so I searched through my cupboards and luckily found half a box of Runts left over from my April Fool's Cupcakes. I loved the shape of the red Runts and thought they would make perfect ladybugs with some spots from melted chocolate chips. You should have heard the chorus of "WOW"s from all the kids when I brought the cupcakes out. They LOVED them! These were very quick and easy. Give 'em a try!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
What does a droid taste like? R2D2 Cake
For his birthday party cake, my son asked for his favorite Star Wars character - R2D2! I've been looking at R2D2 cakes online for a couple years now, wondering if I could do it. Here was my chance.
I started with six 8-inch round cakes. I stacked four for the torso and shaped the remaining two for the head.
Frosted with buttercream frosting.
I covered both pieces with white rolled fondant and painted R2's head with silver Pearl Dust. (This was the first time I've ever worked with Pearl Dust. I think I over-diluted it with lemon juice and it ran all over the place. To compensate, I added a little cornstarch, but that just made it gummy and gloppy. In the future, I will add less lemon juice or just use it dry. Pretty cool stuff though!)
R2's legs were blocks of rice crispie treats cut to shape...
...and covered with fondant.
Here's R2 stacked and getting some details with fondant tinted blue. (Please don't hate me, Star Wars fans; I know he'd not droidatomically correct! He ended up being shorter than I planned as the heavy fondant squished him down a bit. Oh well.)
Here he is finished: an R2D2 cake! He's not perfect, but my son loved him, so that's what's important!
Mmmm...sprinkle cake!
I started with six 8-inch round cakes. I stacked four for the torso and shaped the remaining two for the head.
Frosted with buttercream frosting.
I covered both pieces with white rolled fondant and painted R2's head with silver Pearl Dust. (This was the first time I've ever worked with Pearl Dust. I think I over-diluted it with lemon juice and it ran all over the place. To compensate, I added a little cornstarch, but that just made it gummy and gloppy. In the future, I will add less lemon juice or just use it dry. Pretty cool stuff though!)
R2's legs were blocks of rice crispie treats cut to shape...
...and covered with fondant.
Here's R2 stacked and getting some details with fondant tinted blue. (Please don't hate me, Star Wars fans; I know he'd not droidatomically correct! He ended up being shorter than I planned as the heavy fondant squished him down a bit. Oh well.)
Here he is finished: an R2D2 cake! He's not perfect, but my son loved him, so that's what's important!
Mmmm...sprinkle cake!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
